Knitted Threads
by Josephine77
Summary: When Gold comes home to find Belle engrossed in her knitting, he's determined to find out why. Little did he know the surprise she had in store for him.


_The new photo of Rumple sitting like a bamf in his leather chair with the knitting needles and scarf laying to the side inspired my little knitter's heart to write this oneshot ficlet. I guess it could fit in with the "Charming White Gold Swan" family saga. _

**Knitted Threads**

Dusk was closing as the man known commonly as Mr. Gold to the residents of Storybrooke, or the sinister Rumplestiltskin to their fairy tale counterparts, crept into the old majestic pink Victorian situated on a quiet street at the edge of town. So much had changed about the house since he added an anotherl resident to its premises. Gone were the darkness and clutter, replaced by the sounds and smells of a home.

It was an unusual occurrence that his companion didn't greet him in some way when he arrived home after work. They usually made the small commute together into the center of town only a number of blocks away. But on days like today, when the library wasn't open, Belle often had dinner warming on the stove and was yelling a greeting at his return.

Inhaling deeply, Gold could smell the aroma of a roast wafting in from the kitchen. Pulling off his overcoat and hanging it on the hall tree, Gold moved quietly, his cane echoing softly, toward the parlor from where he saw light streaming into the foyer.

Leaning against the door jam, he found Belle curled up with her legs tucked under her in his favorite leather chair. Her hands were working busily as she muttered softly to herself.

"What are you doing?" Gold asked quietly in wonder.

Belle jerked suddenly, not realizing someone was standing in the doorway. "Oh my, you scared me! Why are you lurking around?"

"I'm not lurking, dearie," Gold answered. "You were just so engrossed in whatever you're doing that you didn't hear me come in."

"I'm knitting," Belle said as she looked back down at the project consuming her concentration. "You know that Granny has been coming over to the library and teaching me."

"So what exactly are you working on that has you so distracted?" he asked as he stepped from the doorway and toward her. Gently he pulled her up from his favorite chair and placed her on his lap, situated so her weight didn't rest on his bad knee.

Setting her current work in her lap, Belle reached over and pulled a long strip of gold from the end table and wrapped it several times around his neck. "I finished my first project. Gold for my Gold."

"It's very beautiful," he said as he leaned forward and kissed her lightly on the nose. "Why is it so long?"

"I didn't know how to cast off, so I just kept on knitting until Granny showed me how. I guess I got a little ambitious."

"Better to keep the chill out on cold Maine days, then," Gold replied and then returned to the question he asked earlier. "So what are you working on now?

Reaching down, Gold fingered the yarn laying in her lap. His experience as a spinner taught him to recognize fibers. Although his specialty was originally wool, and later straw, he had a vast knowledge about the art. Each fiber had its own characteristics and purposes. The yarn Belle had on her lap was of the softest he'd held, a pearly white with flecks of blues and pinks interspersed.

It had been almost thirty years since he felt the motion of the spinning wheel in his hands. His own wheel currently took up residence in a spare bedroom upstairs, never used during his life here as Mr. Gold. He knew people in this land still spun, but technology and industry made the art form almost obsolete. Here it was the artisans and hobbyists who worked the old fashioned spinning wheels, not out of necessity, but because of interest and desire.

"It was supposed to be a surprise," Belle said, pulling Gold away from his trailing thoughts.

Holding up the project, he could see that she was making something that looked like the beginning of a large rectangle. A little too wide for a scarf, he asked, "What is it?"

"It's going to be a blanket," she explained. She paused uncertainly as she added, "A baby blanket."

Gold looked at the beginning of Belle's blanket and commented, "For Charming and Snow? That's much nicer that I would have been."

"No," Belle corrected. "Not for Charming and Snow."

"Then who is it …?" Gold began to ask but was quickly cut off by the answer on Belle's face.

With a shocked look, he stuttered, "You…you're…us?"

"Yes," Belle answered. "I was going to tell you tonight. I had it all planned out-roast beef, candlelight, dessert, but then I got caught up in the blanket and lost track of time."

"But how?" Gold asked, dumbfounded by the announcement.

"I think we know how." Belle teased, trying to lighten the mood. It wasn't often that her Rumplestiltskin was at a loss for words. "It came as a surprise to me, too. But the doctor said…," she began but was quickly interrupted.

"You went to the doctor?" Gold asked in concern, knowing she despised doctors and hospitals after her ordeal at Regina's hands.

"Don't worry," she reassured him. "I went to see Dr. Wilson at her office. Ruby went with me, so I wasn't alone." A midwife in the previous world, she was one of the few doctors in Storybrooke Belle felt comfortable seeing.

"So Miss Lucas knows, too?" Gold asked.

"No," Belle replied. "I told Ruby I had a routine appointment and asked if she would come with me."

"Why didn't you just ask me to go with you?" he asked as he held on to her tightly.

"I wasn't positive and the probability was practically nonexistent. I really thought it was something else. I'm a few weeks late and thought it had something to do with the medication."

"But I thought…" Gold again began stuttering.

"Yeah, me too. Evidently, it's not as uncommon as we might think. Dr. Wilson said the pill is 99% effective, but other things can interfere with it," Belle explained. "Remember when I was sick several weeks ago? She said the medication might have interacted."

"Wow," Gold sighed. "It looks like Storybrooke is going to have a little baby boom in a few months."

"I know this isn't the ideal time, what with the curse and Bae and everything," Belle said softly, worried how he'd take the news.

"Shhh." Gold pleaded as he laid a hand on her abdomen and cradling her in his arms. "Don't stress. It's not the ideal time, but we'll deal with everything as it comes along."

"You're not upset?" Belle asked tentatively.

"What's there to be upset about? I had just as much to do with it as you." Gold answered. "Honestly, I'm a little shocked with my history that it's even possibly."

Unable to hold back, Belle laughed loudly as she leaned forward and kissed him gently. "Well, they do call it the miracle of childbirth."

"She'll be our little miracle," Gold said as he captured her lips.

Pulling away slightly, Belle wrapped her arms around his neck and asked, "She? I'm only a few weeks along. There's no way you can tell what I'm having."

"Mark my words," Gold said expertly. "It will be a 'she'. With eyes just like her mother."

"And the wicked intelligence of her father," she added.

"A perfect combination," Gold declared as he leaned in once again, kissing her softly but full of passion.

There, in the quiet parlor of the old pink Victorian with dinner cooling in the nearby kitchen, the beauty and her beast celebrate their little miracle, oblivious to the world going on around them.

_So fluffy and sickening sweet, I know. This will actually tie in I think to the next chapter of my Smoke and Fog story, so maybe there will be a way to interweave them all together, after all. Hope you like it. _

_Please review. I really like them. The more reviews the faster I write. _


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